Sights in Calais
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Cité Internationale de la Dentelle et de la Mode
Walk past the bizarre topiary and you’ll enter the intricate world of lace-making, the industry that once made Calais a textile powerhouse. Opened in 2009, the informative, cutting-edge exhibits trace the history of lace from the early centuries of hand-knotting (some stunning samples are on display). The highlight is watching a century-old mechanical loom with 3500 vertical threads and 11,000 horizontal ones bang, clatter and clunk according to instructions given by perforated Jacquard cards. Signs are in French, English and Dutch. Situated 500m southeast of the Hôtel de Ville.
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Cap Blanc-Nez
The White-Nosed Cape, as its name translates, is a white cliff - not a cape at all - on a stretch of the Côte d'Opale between Sangatte and Escalles. It affords breathtaking views of the Bay of Wissant, the port of Calais, the Flemish countryside and the cliffs of Kent and is the perfect point to start or end an exploration of the coastline.
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Musée Mémoire 1939–1945
Housed in a concrete bunker built as a German naval headquarters, this WWII museum displays thousands of period artefacts, including weapons, uniforms and proclamations. Situated incongruously in flowery Parc St-Pierre, next to a boules ground and a children’s playground.
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C
Museum of Fine Arts & Lace
The museum (Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle) focuses on two things: modern sculpture, including pieces by Rodin; and the history of lace-making before and after the first lace machines were smuggled over from England - with French government encouragement - in 1816.
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Colonne Louis XVIII
Colonne Louis XVIII commemorates the French king's return from exile in England after the fall of Napoleon (1814). A close inspection will reveal a Hollywood-style imprint of the royal foot.
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Musée de la Dentelle et de la Mode
This museum is dedicated to Calais' glorious lace-making legacy. It's in a 19th-century lace factory whose façade has been transformed to look like a giant Jacquard punched card.
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Tour de Guet
The 13th-century Tour de Guet, square at the base but octagonal on top, is a rare remnant of pre-20th-century Calais - the rest of the town was virtually demolished during WWII.
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lighthouse
Willing to burn calories for a superb panorama? Try climbing the 271 stairs to the top of the lighthouse, built in 1848.
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Burghers of Calais
Rodin sculpted Les Bourgeois de Calais in 1895 to honour six local citizens who, in 1347, after eight months of holding off the besieging English forces, surrendered themselves and the keys to the starving city to Edward III. Their hope: that by sacrificing themselves they might save the town and its people. Moved by the entreaties of his consort, Philippa, Edward eventually spared both the Calaisiens and their six brave leaders.
Calais’ cast of this world-famous work can be found in the formal garden in front of the Flemish Renaissance–style Hôtel de Ville (built 1911–25), whose Unesco World Heritage–listed belfry is being renovated.
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